Investigation: Elon Musk neglects the safety of his workers in his quest to colonize Mars

SpaceX has a high incidence of injuries due to safety violations. This is stated in the Reuters investigation.

The agency accuses Elon Musk of neglecting the safety of workers in an effort to colonize Mars as soon as possible.

Reuters has learned about 600 previously undisclosed cases of workplace injuries at SpaceX since mid-2014 – including more than a hundred cuts and lacerations, about 30 fractures and dislocations, 17 crushed hands and fingers, nine head injuries, including one skull fracture, four concussions, and one traumatic brain injury, as well as at least five burns, five electrocutions, and seven eye injuries.

Other injuries were less severe, but some resulted in disabilities and amputations, and one case was fatal.

The data studied by Reuters mostly relates to the years when SpaceX was in violation of the requirements and did not report workplace injuries. It only started reporting in 2021.

And last year's data shows that the company's injury rate is much higher than the space industry average. With an average rate of 0.8 injuries per 100 employees, SpaceX's factories had a rate of 4.8 (at a production facility in Texas), 2.7 (at a test site in the same state), and 1.8 at a production facility in California.

Only the company's facility in Washington State meets the average injury rate. Two other SpaceX facilities in Florida did not report any injuries.

A workplace fatality at SpaceX was reported in June 2014 at a facility in Texas. Employees had to transport thermal insulation materials to a hangar by truck, but there were no straps to secure the cargo. So one of the workers, a former Marine, decided to sit on top of the truck to hold the cargo in place during transportation. After the truck started moving, the worker was blown away by a gust of wind along with the insulation, fell to the asphalt, hit his head, and died on the spot.

After the incident, federal inspectors instructed SpaceX to strengthen security measures at its facilities. But, according to Reuters, the space company's management continued to be negligent about safety rules.

Employees spoke to the agency about "chaos in the workplace, where often under-trained and overworked staff regularly skip basic safety procedures as they rush to meet Musk's tight deadlines for space programs."

"Elon's concept that SpaceX is on a mission to go to Mars as soon as possible to save humanity permeates all divisions of the company," says a former senior SpaceX engineer who was fired after complaining about working conditions.

Musk himself violates safety rules when visiting SpaceX facilities and encourages employees to do so, they say. For example, he "discouraged employees from wearing protective yellow clothing because he doesn't like bright colors."

"The concept of safety at SpaceX is this: "We let you decide for yourself what is safe for you." That really means no accountability," says one former employee. "It's a terrible approach to working in an industrial environment.

At the Brownsville, Texas facility (the "heart of Musk's Mars mission"), which has the highest injury rate, employees also complain about significant overtime. According to former employees, they literally had to sleep in hangars and work 80 hours a week.

Some took medication to treat attention deficit disorder to concentrate on their work in such conditions. Due to the high temperatures in the missile production hangars, employees were given intravenous fluids to avoid dehydration. Due to poor ventilation, workers inhaled toxic dust generated by welding stainless steel "day after day" (respirators were not provided).

Background. As a reminder, Israel is threatening to sever relations with Starlink over the conflict with Elon Musk.